Past's gripping shadow
by TheDarkwriter7
Summary: They say that the past is in the past. For Beast Boy of the Teen titans, that is not the case. Six months after the Brotherhood of evil and Brushogun, an evil man from Beast Boy's childhood has returned to cause an event that will bring the world to his knees, and Beast Boy is the key to his success. Ships - BBRae, RobStar, CyJinx, mystery ship to be revealed. Includes OCs, ON HOLD
1. Evil's uprising

_(A/N – set after programme finale 'Things change' and 'Teen titans – Trouble in Tokyo') _

**STORY DISCLAMIER**** – I do not own Teen titans, they are owned by DC comics.**

* * *

**Past's gripping shadow chapter 1 – Evil's uprising**

"_Is it not beautiful?" the doctor asked his friend who stood next to him on his left._

_The man turned his head and gave him a small smirk. "Yes, my friend" he replied, returning his head to its original position to continue looking at the great building they had claimed. "It truly is beautiful." The man placed his left hand on the doctor's right shoulder. "And it's ours" he continued. "With this facility, we will be able to finally accomplish everything we have dreamed of."_

_The man lifted his head slightly to the sky to see the sight of a helicopter flying a man sized container over the roof of the building before gently landing the container onto the roof. "How long?" the man asked the doctor. "How long will it take you to make the necessary changes?" The doctor looked down as if in thought before raising his head seconds later with a small smirk of his own. "Not long, ten minutes at most."_

_The man continued to stare at the helicopter with the man sized container attached as one of the darkest smirks in existence crossed his face._

"_Then it begins. It'll be good to see you again, Craig."_

* * *

_10:00am, July 16th_

Jump city is a big place, you could get lost very easily if you didn't know your way. But not all citizens' intentions are pure; there are some people of Jump city who would rather cause chaos and crime for their own personal gain and because Jump was so big, it would be an understatement to say that they were only a few constant 'troublemakers' within the city's imaginary walls. Of course, since the fall of the Brotherhood of Evil, four months later, criminal activity had been at an all time low and so, there wasn't much to worry about. However, if someone powerful _were _to cause trouble, they would have their own problems to deal with.

They would have to deal with a boy who had been trained by the detective king himself with extreme CQC skills who went by many names but was known for dressing up as a traffic light. They would have to deal with an alien princess of the planet Tamaran who would go ahead to 'kick the butt' of any criminal with her ability to blast enemies with green energy bolts and eye beams. They would have to deal with a half human, half machine big guy who despite his funny and peppy attitude, would gladly grind you to a pulp with his robotic hands or send you flying with his sonic cannon if it meant helping his friends and the city. They would have to deal with a half human, half _demon _from a distant realm known as Azarath who literally used her emotions to trample you to the ground or throw around the place, for her dark powers of magic are a sign of her true extreme power that was used to bring about her father of a demons' demise. And finally, they would have to deal with an altered human who gained his abilities to turn into any animal of Earth from a monkey carrying a deadly disease, had been a part of the famous Doom patrol and had probably the worst past out of any of them.

Yes, they would have to deal with the _Teen Titans, _guardians of Jump city.

However, it appeared that the HIVE Five didn't think that the Titans were all that because at this moment in time during the morning of July 16th, the criminal group of Gizmo, See-More, Mammoth, private HIVE and Jinx were causing havoc downtown. At first, the entire group (excluding the pink haired sorceress) were only planning on robbing the Jump city plaza for the upteempth time when about five minutes in, Jinx's eyes began to glow pink in what appeared to be anger before she started casting hexes all over the place, destroying everything in sight.

By now, the HIVE Five had literally _blasted _their way out of the plaza and were now simply standing in the street, looking at the destruction that Jinx had stunningly caused single handedly. After a few moments of simply staring at the metahuman's mess, See-More bravely took a few steps forward towards his leader and gently tapped her shoulder to get her attention, she tensed at this. "Err, Jinx?" he asked with a worried tone. "You alright? It's not every day you have one of your 'doom and gloom' attacks on the city."

Instead of getting a normal response, Jinx turned at quick speeds to glare at See-More with glowing pink eyes and give him a cat like hiss. "I'm fine, you idiot! Don't talk to me!" she shouted.

Despite what she said, the fact was that Jinx was _far _from fine and honestly, if the other HIVE five knew _why_ she was so pissed, they probably wouldn't blame her. You see, shortly after joining the good side with Kid Flash when the fall of the brotherhood of evil occurred, Jinx had moved to Keystone city with him to get a 'fresh start' as a heroine. For five months, everything ran as smoothly as new tarmac on a road for the metahuman but sadly, this had come to an end when she discovered that Wally had found an... _interest _in another girl he had saved... _while _he was dating Jinx. In a fit of anger, the pink haired sorceress had literally destroyed Kid flash's home when she found out and with his other girlfriend, who was also angry and heartbroken at the fact Wally had cheated, they walked out and left him alone in his flat. Ever since then, Jinx had bared a hatred for the fastest human alive and so, did something that she knew would make him feel really bad.

She went back to a life of crime.

Upon leaving Keystone city forever, Jinx used all of the money she had (gladly) stolen from Wally to pay for her plane to Paris, she had also (grudgingly, this time) stolen one of his hoodies in order to conceal her identity from the public. After a long trip from the USA to Paris, Jinx soon found herself in the area where the final battle against the brotherhood of evil took place. She had walked swiftly with a glare upon her lips as she passed the many frozen villains, some she had honestly respected and some she hated with a passion. After what seemed to be hours of walking, Jinx found herself in front of the frozen people who she called friends; her HIVE five teammates. Upon finding them, she used the machine (that was coincidentally still there) to un-freeze the five boys without a word. Upon seeing the hex caster, Kyd Wykkyd had immediately teleported away in fear with Billy Numerous, probably anticipating another attack. Despite their hasty retreat, Jinx simply gave Gizmo, Mammoth and See-more a blank stare before beginning to walk away. Not knowing what to do, the three boys had followed her.

That was a whole month ago and it seemed Jinx still hadn't recovered from Kid Flash's betrayal.

"Well, it seems the bad don't stay good for very long" came a familiar voice that made the entire HIVE Five team turn around. Surely enough, behind the group of criminals stood the five people that made up the group of heroes, the Teen Titans. Robin, who had spoken, was standing in the middle of the now destroyed street with a mix of a disappointed frown and a glare on his face. Starfire, his girlfriend of two months now, was floating a few feet above him with her Starbolts ready to fire from her palms. Cyborg, the mechanical muscle of the team, was riding Beast Boy, who was in the form of a pterodactyl in the air; Cyborg had his sonic cannon pointed at the HIVE Five. Finally, Raven was floating in the air next to Cyborg and Beast Boy, her cloak slightly blowing in the wind with her fists clenched and a stern glare on her face that was bearing at Jinx; she obviously knew the pink haired sorceress's time as a heroine wouldn't last.

"Indeed, boyfriend Robin" Starfire said, continuing his sentence. "Because it seems that the Jinx has done what bad luck, or the karma, has been said to do." By now, Beast Boy had landed next to Robin in the street and after Cyborg had climbed of his back had reverted to his human form. "Yeah Jinx!" he shouted, pointing at her with his grey gloves. "What comes around goes around so whatever happens to you and your little posse today, you totally brung on yourself!" Raven, who was now floating next to Starfire, heard his comment and rolled her eyes at Beast Boy's wording. "Oh, bad grammar" she said sarcastically. "That's gonna scare her." Beast Boy simply turned his head to her and stuck his tongue out like a child before turning back to the HIVE Five, Raven rolled her eyes again at his immaturity as she readied up for the impending fight.

However, there was still _one _titan who wasn't exactly willing to fight. This of course, was Cyborg. The reason, he knew that the HIVE Five wouldn't have been able to get out of their frozen prison and so he knew that Jinx had been the one to un-freeze them. The thing was though, at the celebration party the Titans had hosted in celebration of the Brotherhood's defeat six months ago, Jinx had looked really happy, like _actually _happy. Why would she un-freeze her former friends if she had been so happy as an honorary Titan? Cyborg's thoughts suddenly stopped and a glare crossed his face as he thought of Kid Flash. He had been the one to persuade Jinx to go good and join the Titans, if she was bad again he must have had something to do with it. If Flash _had _done something to hurt Jinx, Cyborg now had a new personal no.1 enemy.

Jinx scoffed at Beast Boy's remark of getting beaten. "You think just because I was good for a little while that I'll go easy on you titans? No chance!" She pointed her right index finger at Robin and shot a wave of pink energy. Luckily, Robin was lifted out of the way just in time by his girlfriend, so he had escaped harm for now. "HIVE Five!" Jinx shouted as her eyes glowed pink in anger and frustration. "Eat'em alive!" And with that, the two teams by charging to a respective HIVE member/ Teen Titan. Robin, who had been returned to the ground, charged at Private HIVE with his bo-staff in the grip of his left hand. Starfire flew forward in order to be in front of See-More with starbolts ready to fire. Mammoth had jumped over his teammates and enemies to get up close with Beast Boy, who had turned into a Sasquatch. Cyborg had slowly backed away from the 'party' as Gizmo approached him with his spider legs and Jinx began casting her pink hex energy at Raven, who was blocking it with shields made of her own energy.

"_Target within sights."_

Little did the heroes and villains know that they were all being watched from one of the rooftops towering over their current battle. Watching over the battle between the Titans and the HIVE Five from a towering rooftop was a robot. The machine bared glowing orange eyes that would be the source of light in a place of darkness; a black helmet with three blood red lines covered its silver human skull shaped head which held possession of no mouth, ears or nose. The mechanical arms were also the colour of a second place medal with the shoulder plates, metal gauntlets and robotic two-piece hands being the colour of blood. Its chest held a similar design to the helmet when it came to the colour scheme of the machine except the lines were black and the body was red; a glowing red light the size of a sphere was held at its centre. The higher halves of its legs that would be called the 'femurs' on a human were black, with the lower halves (the 'tibias') being red with a black line running down the middle. Finally, the machine's black feet looked to be almost like pincers supporting it, two spikes stretched out to the front where as one went out to the back. Upon the machine's arm gauntlets appeared to weaponry.

The machine's orange glowing eyes were currently set on the green Teen Titan known as Beast Boy, or _Garfield Logan_. And hidden within an iconic point of San Francisco, _a man and a doctor watched the battle between the Titans and HIVE Five through the visual receptors of the machine they had worked together to build._

"_**He has improved," **__said the man as he watched Beast Boy fight Mammoth through the eyes of the robot they had built together. __**"If you say so," **__replied the doctor. __**"I have not met him before, I am just hoping that what you said is true, that he is one halve of the puzzle to achieving what we desire." **__The man turned away from the computer screen for a second to look at the doctor. __**"Trust me, he is. He is the first step to unlocking **__**Exhur Khan, magni mali et origo ténebris **__**from his prison." **__The man turned back to the screen, he noticed that Beast Boy was now on the ground with the HIVE Five brute about to smash his fists into the green person's face. The man turned to the doctor again, this time with a forceful look in his eyes. __**"We need him alive and not too badly damaged." **__The doctor nodded and pressed a few buttons on the computer keyboard before hitting the 'enter' key._

The machine's eyes that were focused on Beast Boy and Mammoth flashed dark red momentarily before returning orange and then, the machine took to the air via jet rockets within its black pincer feet. The robot flew down to the battle, immediately being noticed by everyone but Mammoth due to his happiness at the fact he was about to kill a Titan. With everyone set of hero and villain (excluding Mammoth) eyes now on the red and black machine, it landed behind the HIVE Five villain and raised its left arm to point it at him.

"Dude, behind you!" Beast Boy shouted. "Hah, you really think I'm gonna fall for that?" Nevertheless, the villain turned around and as soon as he did, fire erupted from the flamethrower equipped to the machine's left gauntlet and Mammoth was lit up like a leaking gas pipe. No one moved to help the screaming criminal as the shock they had been hit with was too strong for their bodies to simply ignore. The Titans all stood, mouths agape with the other members of the HIVE Five following suite with tears streaming down their faces.

As Mammoth continued screaming for someone, hero or villain, to save him, the machine that had done the act raised its head from the burning criminal to bare its orange eyes onto a now standing Beast Boy. _The doctor pressed a few buttons on the keyboard before hitting the 'enter' key again. _The machine's eyes flashed red before returning to orange and it raised its right arm.

At the action, fear replaced Beast Boy's shock as he morphed into an eagle and took to the sky, blue lasers from the machine's wrist blaster narrowly missing him. The Titans seemed to suddenly realize what danger their friend was in and Robin turned to them all. "Titans, destroy that robot!" Cyborg raised his sonic cannon to fire but before he could do anything, the machine activated the jet rockets in its pincer feet and took after the green changeling. "Starfire, Raven!" Robin shouted to the two female members of the team. "Go after that robot and stop it before it catches Beast Boy! Me and Cyborg will get our vehicles and catch up!"

Raven and Starfire immediately began following their leader's order and took after Beast Boy's robotic hunter. As soon as they were out of sight, Robin began running in the direction of where he had parked the R-cycle... but Cyborg did not follow. He silently watched as the HIVE five, or what was left of them, surrounded the now dead Mammoth. See-Mores' one eye seemed to be overflowing with tears where as Billy Numerous and Gizmo both had their eyes shut, hiding and containing the water of their own eyes but it wasn't them Cyborg was worried about, it was Jinx. Her expression was steady, her face seemed to be frozen in the place of a blank slate but when Cyborg looked really hard at her eyes, he would be lying if he said he didn't see sadness and... anger.

"Cyborg!" Robin called from halfway to the T-car and R-cycle. "Come on! We have to catch up with Star and Raven!" So grudgingly, Cyborg took one last look at the blank pink-haired sorceress before he turned his back on the HIVE and began running towards his car. Jinx, hearing the sound of his retreating footsteps, looked up to see him running to his car. The girl looked down quickly to her saddened teammates and dead friend before looking up to the running half-man again. Without a word or even a look to her team, Jinx stepped around them and gave chase towards Cyborg.

* * *

About half a mile away, Beast Boy was still in the form of an eagle flying away from the red mechanical assassin that was firing blue lasers at him. He flew as fast as he could but every time he looked behind him, the robot would still be there with its laser blaster, its orange eyes boring into him. **"**_**I've got an idea for a different approach" **__said the man to the doctor. When the doctor raised an eyebrow, the man pointed to a certain key on the computer's keyboard. Seeing it, the doctor smirked and nodded before hitting a few keys on the keyboard, the pointed out one included, before pressing the 'enter' key. _The machine's eyes flashed red once again before returning to its original orange. Suddenly, a burst of fire came from the robot's jet rockets located in its pincer feet and it sped up, going straight past its target. Once in front, the machine turned around so that it was looking at the green falcon before it raised its right arm again.

A capture wire shot out from the gauntlet equipped firearm, ensnaring itself around the falcon's body and wings. Beast Boy quickly morphed back to himself in order to hopefully escape from the capture wire but then found it was still on his person, it was wrapped around his wrists and held them tight like handcuffs. From behind, Starfire and Raven had finally, with a lot of effort, caught up to their teammate and his pursuer and upon seeing him restrained by his wrists, opened fire on the robot with starbolts and energy spheres. "Hang on, friend Beast Boy!" Starfire called to him. "Me and friend Raven will have you out in a 'jiffy', as the people of your earth call it." The machine turned around and its orange eyes sighted the Tamaranian and empath. _**"Activate boosters!" **__the man shouted to the doctor who quickly pressed the right computer keys to allow their creation to do this. _The robot doubled its speed as a burst of fire broke out from its jet rockets in its pincer feet, opening the gap between itself and its target's potential rescuers.

"I've had enough of this joy ride," Beast Boy said sarcastically. He morphed into a falcon, thus causing the capture wire to wrap him around him again but luckily, it didn't go around his wings, only his body. Beast Boy quickly used the capability of full flight to his advantage and in the form of a falcon, flew past his captor at a fast speed. The robot's eyes seemed to widen in surprise at the sight of its own prisoner overtaking it and so, it made a sharp right turn, pulling it and Beast Boy onto a rooftop with Raven and Starfire literally only a few seconds away.

Morphing into a bear, Beast Boy used his sharp claws cut the capture wire that had ensnared itself around his writs again. The robot reacted quickly and ended the one-on-one battle before it could even start by grabbing Beast boy's bear paws, pinning them to his side in a hug and throwing him to the ground in a suplex. The machine quickly got to its feet and scanned the green changeling, who had reverted to human form as soon as his head made contact with the rooftop; he was out cold.

"_Target apprehended."_

"No! You will not take our friend!" The robot turned its head at the sound of the voice to lay its eyes on the Tamaranian Titan, Starfire approaching it at high speeds. _**"Have her eliminated" **__the man said to the doctor. __**"She is not required for our plan." **_

_At his friend's words, the doctor programmed the machine to eliminate the alien girl by typing in the right commands on the keyboard before hitting 'enter'. "Good, another hero to dismantle" _said the robot in its cybernetic voice as it raised its right arm in Starfire's direction. Red lasers began speeding towards the heroine but before any could connect, Starfire would either dodge them by moving out of the way or would use her starbolts and eye lasers to clash with the its own lasers, causing small explosions. Starfire cast her starbolts the machine's way, desperate to save her friend but her attempts proved fruitless; the robotic assassin would either jump or cartwheel out of the way.

_**"Time for the big guns" **__the man began after the battle between the robot and Starfire had gone on for a few moments. __**"Or should I say missiles."**__ He pressed a single button on the keyboard before hitting the 'enter' key. _The robot's eyes that were still bearing into Starfire flashed red again before reverting to normal. _"Your weak flesh is no match for the unyielding might of steel." _The robot leaned its back forward so that if it were to take off it would hit her directly when suddenly a missile appeared from a compartment in its back and shot off towards the Tamaranian at shocking speeds! Not expecting this type of attack, Starfire did not respond fast enough. The missile hit her dead on and with a quick scream of pain, Starfire plummeted to the streets below, a trail of smoke following her; the robot seemed to hold pride in its eyes as it watched the titan fall.

"_Another hero wasted," _it said to itself. _The man scowled to himself; he was beginning to get impatient. __**"I've had enough of this show," **__he said to his friend. __**"Bring it back so we can claim what we so rightly deserve."**__ The doctor nodded and as he had done many times before, he pressed buttons on the computer keyboard before pressing 'enter'. _Receiving its new orders within a flash of red in its orange eyes, the mechanical hunter picked up the unconscious green altered human within its arms and using its inbuilt jet rockets, took off into the sky and began its journey back to its home. Little did the robot and its watchers know that they were being followed because they had been so preoccupied with Starfire, they had completely forgotten about Raven.

"You are not getting away." Raven said to herself as she began to chase after the machine that was attempting to kidnap her friend. Raven flew after the red and black robot for a few moments before she was in an acceptable range to begin her attacks and so she did. She used her powers to raise walls of her black energy but this wasn't a good method as the robot would simply fly around, above or below them. Next, she tried the method of simple energy blasts; spheres of her black energy that would destroy any part of the robot that they came into contact with, the robot used its high speed to dodge them with ease before any damage could be done. Finally, Raven unleashed black energy tentacles from her palms to try and pull the machine closer towards her where she could give it an energy shock. The robot kept on moving to the left and right over and over to avoid this tactic of attack; this greatly infuriated the empath as nothing was working and soon, she and the robot would be leaving the city. It was only now that the robot turned its head around to look at Raven with its orange eyes and it sub-consciously ran a scan of her.

"_**Wait!" **__the man screamed as he read Raven's results of the scan that their robot had sub-consciously done. __**"Do you know what this means?" **__he asked the doctor. The doctor responded by looking his friend in the eye before giving him a smirk. __**"Yes my friend, I certainly do." **__With that, the doctor input a keyboard command as fast as he could before pressing the 'enter' key with dramatic tension. _The machine's eyes flashed red as it stared at Raven, before it stretched its right arm out to point it in her direction.

"_Target within sights."_

Raven's eyes widened in shock due to the words that had come from the robot. "What?"

The robot did not hesitate at the shocked fear in its new target; it immediately began firing blue lasers at the frightened empath. However, Raven was still in shock at the simple phrase that had come from the machine and so was not ready for an attack. She let out a scream as the blue lasers made contact with her person and volts of electricity pulsed through her. Her body stiffened seconds later and she began to fall to the ground below at high speeds only to be caught in the robot's grasp after she had fallen a few feet; the robot now had both Beast Boy and Raven as its prisoners.

"_Another captured hero" _the machine said in a tone that must've been cocky from its victory. _**"We have our two requirements." **__the doctor said to the man beside him. __**"We can finally get the plan underway." **_

_The man did not reply straight away, he turned away from the doctor and made his way to the room's exit. However, before leaving, he turned to his friend and with a deathly stare said, __**"No more playing around, Bring it back and we shall begin." **_As if it had given a new order via Wi-Fi connection, the robot's eyes flashed red for the last time that day and with two unconscious Titans in its arms, began flying back to where it came from.

* * *

Five minutes later, Robin was standing just on the outskirts of the city, a failed expression on his face whilst he stared at the screen of his communicator. Even though it was a small device, it had the capability of scanning the entire city for any other titan communicators. And that was what Robin was worried about; he could find Starfire's and Cyborg's... but he couldn't find Beast Boys' and Raven's. "Damn it... damn it" Robin said to himself in frustration. This was the last thing Robin needed. Yes, there may not be that many villains out there anymore but being two teammates down was still a big disadvantage if any villains _were_ to show up... and since the Titans hadn't done anything to stop the death of Mammoth, he guessed that the HIVE Five would be attacking the city in a sort of revenge movement.

Robin turned around when his ears picked up the sound of a familiar car engine. Just as he thought, when he turned around, he saw Cyborg driving towards him in the T-car and Starfire flying just above it as if watching over it; she seemed to have a problem with her flying. As soon as Starfire caught sight of her boyfriend, the frown that had been on her face was replaced with a smile that showed pure happiness. "Boyfriend Robin!" she screamed as she flew towards him. "You are unharmed!" The Tamaranian reached the boy wonder and wrapped her arms around him in the strongest hug she could manage in her injured state which happened to have the strength of a normal hug.

Equally as happy to see his girlfriend alright, Robin returned the hug tightly. "Don't worry about me Star, I didn't even get a chance to touch that robot" he said with both guilt and a bit of happiness; he was guilty because he hadn't made a contribution to trying to stop the machine but he was happy because he hadn't been in danger, he didn't feel like joining Mammoth in a pot of ashes anytime soon. "Star, I noticed that you're flying was a little bit just now, are _you _okay?" he asked worried. "Do not worry, Robin" she said. "Being hit by a missile to a Tamaranian is like being slapped to a human, I just wasn't able to fight anymore due to where the missile hit me." Finally, Starfire released Robin and they looked each other in the eyes. "I'm just glad you're okay," he said quickly, giving her a peck on the cheek before smiling at her blushing cheeks.

"Hey Rob." The couple turned to the voice of Cyborg, who had also missed out on the fight against Beast boy's mechanical hunter. "I can't believe we couldn't do anything to help BB, we had a perfect opportunity to stop that robot. All of this could've been stopped." Robin simply nodded, there was no point dwelling on what had already happened. What was done is done, what mattered now was finding where the machine had taken Beast boy. However, before pushing the matter, Robin needed to check something with the two of them. So he turned to his friend and girlfriend and asked them "Do you two have any idea where Raven might be?"

Starfire's frown returned at the knowledge that her 'BFF' as the earth people called it, had gone missing. "No Robin" she said. "The last time I saw friend Raven was before I went to attack friend Beast Boy's robotic hunter." An angry look took over Robin's face; he turned to Cyborg for hope.

"Nah man, I haven't seen her since the last time I saw BB, when we were fighting the HIVE." Robin turned his back on his teammates and took a few steps away from them, he couldn't believe that he had lost one teammate, but _two_. "My communicator can't find Raven's within the city," started the boy wonder. "My guess is that she had followed the machine since it left the city or she has been captured as well." Cyborg sighed as if in denial; Robin and Starfire both stared at him as if they knew he was going to speak.

"I doubt that, Robin" he stared. "That machine's top priority was to capture Beast Boy. It only attacked Starfire when she attacked it first so unless the robot suddenly decided that Raven would be helpful for whatever it has in store for BB, I highly doubt that it's captured her as well." Robin looked away from Cyborg to look at to the surrounding roads connected to the city outskirts. "What are we gonna do?"

"Yeah, what _are _you gonna do?"

All three Titans froze. They knew that voice and when they all turned around; their shocking thoughts had to be believed. Jinx of the HIVE Five was walking towards them and by the looks of it, she wasn't planning on stopping. It didn't take a genius to know that whatever she wanted to speak to them about was important for she wasn't attacking them and anger was present in her pink cat eyes. When she was within their group radius by being between Starfire and Cyborg, she repeated her question to Robin. "Well then, what are you going to do about this?" she asked, the question being genuine.

Robin felt threatened by the metahuman and so glared at her from where he stood. "And why does that concern you?" he asked. Before replying, Jinx pointed her finger in the direction of where she had walked from... or ran.

"How _dare _you!" she screamed at the Titan leader, both enraged and upset that he was making her say it. "You know _damn well _why it concerns me! That robot _killed _Mammoth! Whoever built it or even helped to build it is going to pay!"

Calmly, Robin stepped forward so that he now staring Jinx in the eyes as he had done with Starfire moments ago. "Listen Jinx" he began as calm as he could. "I know that you and Mammoth were close; you were good friends. But there is nothing you can do to change the fact that what has happened has happened." Robin paused for a second; he noticed that Jinx's eyes were welling up as he spoke of her dead teammate. "Jinx, me and the other Titans are going to track where this robot went and took Beast boy and possibly Raven. When we find the person who built the robot, we'll be sure to give them a message from you." With that, Robin turned his back on the pink-haired sorceress and began walking towards the R-cycle that he had parked just around the corner. Suddenly, he heard a clatter on the ground. He looked toward where the sound had come from and immediately regretted it.

A communicator for the HIVE Five lay on the ground; it was burnt and carried black scorch marks. The girl who had thrown it had tears running down her pale grey cheeks.

"Robin, I'm begging you" Jinx began, using the titan leader's name for the first time. "You are a titan, you know that all crime is wrong and needs to be dealt with and I know that I sound like a hypocrite but I am _begging _you!" By now, all three Titans were staring at the villainess in shock; Cyborg's look also held sympathy and pity. "Murder cannot be undone, we all know that. But if there is one thing I can do for my dead friend and teammate Mammoth, it is that I can bear the burden of working together with the Titans to avenge his death." Robin looked away from Jinx to the burnt HIVE communicator on the ground. He looked to his girlfriend for help; her expression showed she did not have a clued of what to do. He then looked to Cyborg, where he got a response. He got a nod of the head and a sad frown.

Robin looked at Jinx again, her eyes held no more anger but fear and hope at the same time. He sighed before speaking.

"Alright Jinx. You can help us."

* * *

_1:00pm, July 16th_

Beast boy groaned. His body was in a lot of pain, mainly the head. He couldn't remember much about what had happened before now but he still had small fragments. He could remember a burning Mammoth, a red and black robot with frightening orange eyes and a small fight with it before it knocked him out. Summing up all the strength he had, Beast boy sat up and opened his eyes. He was in a small room with one window and one bed; the window had metal bars on it and to say that Beast boy was shocked to find an unconscious Raven on the bed would be an understatement.

"Hello there young man."

A voice shook Beast boy out of his state of shock. Looking to the open doorway where light was leaking in, Beast boy saw one man, a white skinned man dressed in medical attire. He appeared to stand at about 5'10 in height and was quite slim when it came to his width. He had a mop of blonde hair that was slicked back to give it that certain 'shine' and he had a pair of rectangular glasses with black frames to cover his sky blue eyes. As for his clothes, he wore a rouge button-up shirt with a sun yellow tie underneath a white lab coat. His trousers were olive green like Beast boy's skin and he wore black slip-on loafers; a crowbar was held in his right hand.

The man stared at Beast boy from behind his glasses and smirked. "You don't know who I am, but I know a lot about you, sir" he said calmly as he took one step into the room. "I've heard a lot about you and I only hope that we will become _great friends._ Beast Boy, my name is Dr. Colress, William Colress, and I don't want you to worry... you and your friend are going to be very safe here; I promise."

Suddenly, the man identified as Colress swung the crowbar to Beast boy's head, knocking him to the ground as blood began flowing from the wound. Feeling suddenly drowsy, the green boy looked up at the doctor who was now on one knee and staring into Beast boy's forest eyes.

"You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Logan. Nothing at all."

And all went black.

* * *

_(A/N – Oh my GOD! I FINALLY finished chapter 1! Seriously, I started this like a whole week ago and it took me one whole week for one chapter!? This must be getting long! Anyway, I hope that this introduction has got you guys wanting more because this story is one I've been wanting to write for a LONG time! I just hope that it was good enough for you guys to like it! Now, what you are about to read is a small bit of writing that will be in the next chapter of this story, it is called __chapter 2: Safety behind bars__. It is a bit of writing that will be quite crucial in the chapter as it is where we start to go into the entire case. Have a read of it and see what you think._

_Chapter 2: Safety behind bars preview_

_'Beast Boy stared in horror at the man who was causually sitting the arm chair. Honestly, the green Changeling had somewhat forgotten what the man looked like, after so many years but now, his memory had been refreshed. The abnormal blue hair, the dark red suit with black horizontal lines running over it, the piercing yellow eyes, the orange shirt to go_ with _the suit and the professional black loafers._

_ **"You." **the hero said simply whilst giving the man the drakest glare he could muster. The man returned Beast Boy's glare with an evil smirk._

**_"Hello Craig, it's good to see you again."_**

_BTW, please be sure to review! It only takes a few seconds to a minute, they make me happy because they show you guys care and the more I get, the better chance of faster updates! Thanks for reading and hope you are looking forward to the next chapter!)_


	2. Safety behind bars

_(A/N – Sorry for the late update guys! The only reasons I've got for this late update are that these chapters are going to be long anyway so they will take a while and every fortnight, I have to write a Harry Potter fic for a competition so I lose writing time to those as well. Trust me, in the future, I will try (and I mean _TRY) _to get the updates done quicker because the amount of time this has taken is just appalling._

_So here you go everyone, chapter 2. In the last chapter, as you all know, our favourite team of superheroes were separated. Beast Boy and Raven are trapped somewhere with a weird doctor and another guy whereas Robin, Starfire and Cyborg have come to the point where they need all the help they can get to save their friends and so, have created an unlikely elegance with a vengeful Jinx. Because of the situation, each chapter will be split into two halves – one with BB and Rae at their prison and the other with the titans (and Jinx), doing all they can to save their friends. BTW, I would like you to keep an eye on the dates at the top of each half of each chapter, so you know how long it's been since the last event and the current date in the storyline. Finally, in case you haven't noticed, I have changed the story genre from Adventure/Romance to Adventure/Drama; the reason for this is simply the fact that after going through the story planning, I have realised there are probably going to be more dramatic events than romantic moments._

_Right, with that out of the way, let the word flow continue! With this chapter, we'll be starting with Beast Boy and Raven and at some point; we'll see what the remaining Titans and Jinx are up to.)_

* * *

**Past's gripping shadow chapter 2 – Safety behind bars**

_2:00pm, July 16th – Unknown location_

A groan escaped the green skinned boy as he slowly regained consciousness. He tried to gather his bearings on where he was and what had happened but found he couldn't concentrate enough. He had a splitting headache and from what it felt like, Beast Boy guessed that it wasn't planning on fading away any time soon. Instinctively, he raised his hand to his head to try and make the pain go away. It didn't have any effect. Beast Boy drew his hand back and saw the blood straight away on his grey glove. His memory clicked as his eyes widened, he remembered now!

He had been pursued by a robot in Jump city before it had knocked him out and taken him to this strange place, where a man called William Colress had knocked him out with a crowbar. As another thought entered his head, the changeling looked to the bed within the room he sat in; Raven, who had also been kidnapped (for some reason) was no longer lying on the bed. Sighing, Beast boy looked away from the bed and down to his green skinned body and white sweatpants.

...

...

...

..._.. WHAT?!_

Immediately, the young man got to his feet, ignoring his head ache and looked down at his person. Sure enough, Beast Boy was not wearing his Doom patrol uniform, he was completely naked except for the white sweatpants he was now clothed, his boxers underneath and his grey gloves; someone must've changed his clothing after Colress knocked him out again. Beast Boy's face adopted a look of absolute fear as he noticed that now he could no longer hide his scars of the past. The marks that covered his body could now be seen by all; the cuts from the two thieves that had never healed completely, the beatings and tasar electrocutions from his guardian and his mangled flesh on his hands that would have been visible had the enemy not left him his gloves.

The boy's pointed elf-like ears abruptly twitched. His enhanced animal hearing was picking up four sets of feet walking towards the door that kept him locked in the room that held only a bed and a window with bars. Two of the sets of feet walked heavier than the others. Beast Boy sat down on the bed as calm as a cucumber (no pun intended) and simply waited to see who would walk through the metal door. Would it be William Colress, returning for another whack at the changeling's person with his crowbar? Would it be one of his workers (the doctor surely couldn't have done all this by himself) or would it be someone/something totally unexpected?

If you thought option three, have a cookie.

The door was pulled open and Dr. William Colress walked in, followed by a man dressed in grey army boots, dark blue trousers, a dark blue trench coat, plain white gloves and a mask that covered the whole face which had eye sockets that looked similar to the eye sockets on night-vision goggles; the man was armed with a Galil assault rifle. The doctor stared at the changeling for a moment with a look that practically shone pure determination. Eventually, he spoke to break the silence.

"Mr. Logan," he began, using Beast Boy's surname instead of his first. "There's someone who wants to see you." With his power to turn into animals, Beast Boy could easily transform into something strong, attack Colress and his guard and find Raven before fleeing but honestly, he didn't want to risk it due to the Galil the guard was holding; animals were still vulnerable to bullets. So tentatively and with a slightly nervous expression, the green Titan stood up from the bed and followed the two men as they left the room. Once in the hallway outside the room with Colress and the armed guard, Beast Boy's eyes met the sight of a second armed guard (dressed in the exact same clothing) and... his friend Raven with a bag over her head and restrained with handcuffs.

The changeling also noticed that it appeared he wasn't the only one the enemy had no respect of privacy for. Raven, instead of being dressed in her usual attire, was dressed in what appeared to be a white hospital gown. The paper bag over her head, Beast Boy guessed, was most likely to keep her from seeing anything she shouldn't. Lastly, the handcuffs that restrained her wrists were _defiantly _not like the type the police used. Where as normal handcuffs were basically two metal rings connected by a small chain (in a nutshell), these handcuffs' metal rings were much bigger, there was a bright purple light on each and there wasn't a chain connecting them but a stream of violet electricity.

Dr. Colress clicked his fingers, gaining the attention of the guard standing with Raven before pointing into the room the trio had previously walked out from. "Put her back in the cell." the doctor ordered him with pure authority. Beast boy watched, helpless to do anything in fear of being shot, as the armed guard walked Raven back into their shared 'cell' before removing the bag from her head and removing the strange handcuffs. As the guard began to leave the cell, the other armed man raised his Galil to point it at Raven so she wouldn't try anything.

_Click!_

Beast Boy blinked before looking down to his now cuffed wrists. It appeared that the blonde doctor had taken the changeling's diverted attention to his advantage and had handcuffed Beast Boy whilst his attention had been on his friend and her armed guard. The green titan's cuffs were similar to Raven's in every way except the lights on the metal rings were olive green and the electricity connecting the cuffs was dark green. He looked to Colress, who was giving the hero a dark smirk. "And why are these necessary?" Beast Boy asked with a glare, hoping to get at least an answer.

"_Clause D17 of your imprisonment arrangements has come into effect." _Beast Boy turned around to blankly stare at the armed guard behind him, who had answered his question that he had given to the doctor. "They keep you from using your powers," said William. "Hers' too. We can't have our two 'guests' leaving early, can we?" he said sarcastically. Beast Boy heard a small _clank _sound and turned his head to notice that Raven was now trapped within their shared cell, thanks to the second armed guard. _"Continue with allocated tasks." _Beast Boy's guard said to Raven's before it walked down the hallway and around the corner. "Now come," Colress stared again, his expression becoming serious. "My client greatly wishes to speak to you, Garfield."And with that, Colress began walking down the hallway; Beast Boy only began following him after the guard raised its assault rifle to point it at his back.

None of them noticed the black raven following them.

As the two criminals walked down the hallway with their prisoner, Beast Boy finally began noticing the explicit details that could, when he had enough knowledge, help to reveal where it was he and Raven were being kept. He could tell that he was inside some sort of prison, due to the bars on the windows and the jail cells (that contained only a bed, toilet and sink) that the trio walked past that had cage doors on them. The changeling also noticed many people of both genders and varied ages in orange jumpsuits from a distance in some parts of the building. For some reason, some of the people would give the hero a death glare if he was caught in their line of vision. _'What the hell is their problem?' _is what he would think when he would lose sight of the person giving him the dark stare.

"Colress, who are all these people?" Beast Boy asked the doctor with genuine curiosity and surprisingly, no hostility at all. "You sent a robot to capture me, why are all those other people here?" William chuckled darkly, his walking stature never faltering.

"My client will explain everything to you when we reach our destination, Garfield." Eventually, the trio came to a door and Beast Boy watched silently as Colress pulled out a ring of keys from the inside of his white lab coat. The blonde man fiddled with the keys for a moment, obviously looking for the right one for the door. After a few seconds, he grasped a golden key that was slightly bigger than the rest and put it into the door's keyhole before turning the shaped piece of metal and pushing the door open; he entered with Beast Boy and the armed guard following him in.

"Gotta admit, nice place." Beast Boy said after running the room over with his emerald eyes. It was moderately sized, being roughly as big as two lorries that were firmly squashed together. Most of the room was filled with things to do with paperwork and information such as filing cabinets (there were quite a few of them), books on the sciences of Chemistry and Biology and a computer that lay on the desk in the centre of the room. There were other items within as well such as the pump-action double barrelled shotgun that was pinned up on one of the walls, a map of the entire prison building (or, at least that's what Beast Boy _thought_ it was) that lay on the desk and diagrams for two different types of robot that were pinned up on the opposite wall to the one that held the doctor's firearm.

"Thank you, young man." the doctor said with the first bit of kindness he had shown Beast Boy since the start of this whole fiasco as he walked behind his desk. He opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a small silver key on a chain, the letters 'AW' were engraved into the metal. Crossing his arms behind his back with the key set in his palm, Colress looked at Beast Boy with a small smirk. "I presume by now that you know you are in a prison?" the blonde asked as the green boy nodded.

"This _was _the prison warden's office, Garfield. However, since the takeover it's been mine." Colress' eyes looked away from Beast Boy to the sky in (the hero guessed) thought and he shrugged his shoulders after a moment. "Actually," he continued, "takeover isn't really the right word. You see, this prison was 'out of commission' when my client and I first came here. So, takeover _can't _be the right word because there wasn't anyone here _to_ takeover so I suppose you could say this office has been mine since we... moved in." He finished with a smile.

Colress walked to the back door of the office before pushing the singular sliver key into the keyhole and turning the metal piece. After hearing the _click _of a door lock, Colress turned the doorknob and pushed the door open before walking out into the bright sunlight of the afternoon. Beast Boy hesitated and a nervous expression overtook his facial features to show his new fear. During the trio's entire trip through the prison to this office, Colress had mentioned his 'client' many times. What frightened him was that the corrupt doctor knew _so _much about him, meaning that he probably got all/most of the information about the changeling from this 'client'. Who would know so much about Beast Boy and not give a damn about spreading personal secrets, like his full name?

The hero's thoughts abruptly came to a halt as he felt the armed guard's Galil poke into his back and a hand pushed him forward a step. _"Proceed forward as previously instructed." _The armed guard said blankly and with no emotion. Beast Boy followed the order, but couldn't help roll his eyes. _'What is up with this guy?' _he thought to himself. _'Can't the guy show just a little emotion? Seriously, he's talking like a robot.'_

The Titan and the guard walked out of William's office and came to one of the greatest views that he had ever seen in his whole life; the sunlight seemed to make everything in the distance glow. Despite the situation, Beast Boy couldn't help but let a small smile come onto his face as he took in the sight. He could see the wavy but beautiful waters which surrounded the prison that the hero just discovered was stationed on an island, he could see a great city in the distance and he could see the birds being free and flying around the sky. However, the changeling also caught sight of some things that upset him and made him feel more trapped. He could now see that there were prison sniper towers situated around the island, each one having one or two armed guards with sniper rifles at the top. Huge chained fences with barbed wire surrounded the entire complex and in every direction he looked, he would see an armed guard dressed exactly like his own with a mask covering their (he guessed) emotionless face.

"So Garfield," Dr. Colress stared, speaking to the hero from a small space away on the first step of a descending stone staircase. "Do you have any idea where you are _now_?" Beast Boy furrowed his brow but he must've had a look of thought on his face because after a moment, the criminal tapped Beast Boy's shoulder to get his attention. "Look over there." he said, pointing in the direction of Beast Boy's right. In response, the hero looked slightly to his right to see in the distance... a gigantic red bridge connected to the city. Beast Boy looked back to Colress a second later and raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

The eyebrow fell as quickly as it lifted when Beast Boy froze.

Prison on an island... city in the distance... gigantic red bridge...

He looked at Dr. Colress in shock as it hit him and the man gave the boy a smirk.

With disbelief clearly evident in his voice, Beast Boy began speaking, "Colress," he started calmly but with shock. "How the _hell _did you persuade the government to let you and your client take control of-" Colress cleared his throat, cutting Beast Boy's sentence off abruptly. With the smirk still on his face, he said, "The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary of the Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco bay?" He chuckled upon seeing Beast Boy's response, a timid nod with a shocked expression still present on his face.

"All I'm saying is that it was much easier than either of us thought it would be. If you want to know more about us taking control of this great facility, be sure to ask my client and he will answer." Colress said, sounding like a TV advertisement. The doctor then proceeded to begin walking down the stone staircase with Beast Boy and the armed guard following, the hero now willingly.

The staircase wasn't that long, so it was only after about twelve seconds of walking and a quick left that the trio came to a small building; a house to be exact. The entire house was grey, with each part of it being a different shade. The roof was made of brick and held host to a small but tall chimney and were both the same shade of grey as a raincloud. The outside walls were made of wood and were a lighter shade of grey, similar to a newspaper and finally, the front door and window ledges were blank paper white and were also made of the strong material that came from trees; there were windows to the left and right of the front door.

"Hang on a minute," said Beast Boy with a frown on his face. "I've done my research on Alcatraz and I know that this can't be the Warden's house, it was burnt down during the occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians from 1969 to 1971." Colress, who was about to open the front door, turned to the hero.

"My client and I didn't have much use for a burnt down building of great size, so we had it knocked down completely upon taking over the island ourselves. We then had this small house built for us."

The doctor turned back to the front door and pulled out a small bronze key from the inside of his lab coat; he allowed a small evil smile to cross his face. He slipped the key into its keyhole and it was turned almost immediately before the white wooden door was gently pushed open. The trio entered and came to see the inside of the ground floor of the house and Beast Boy had to admit, it looked quite stylish. However, he didn't have enough time to analyze certain details because to his dismay, the evil blonde doctor pointed into the living room, which was to a sharp left of them and the front door.

"My client is waiting for you in there, Garfield. Take a seat in any chair apart from the red armchair and don't try any funny business. Just because I'm leaving you doesn't mean the guard here is." Beast Boy looked from Colress to the armed guard dressed in blue in frustration, he had hoped that they would both leave so he could have a one-on-one with this 'client' but it didn't really matter, the other person in charge was waiting for Beast Boy in the room to the left of him, only two or three steps away. And so, the green boy stepped into the living room of the villain's household.

The living room was actually, really stylish as well. There was an expensive blue carpet that covered the otherwise wooden floor; it had patterns of red triangles and golden stars. The walls were blank paper white like the front door and window ledges, and held no stains or hints of other colours. Different types of chairs decorated the floor, there was a couch and two armchairs; one was red and one was blue (for some reason, the red armchair had its back to the blue one across the room) and there was a small fireplace held in place on the back wall but currently, there were no flames to burden its name.

Beast Boy sat down in the blue armchair, his eyes now on the back of the red one. With their prisoner now settled, Dr. Colress turned to the armed guard. "Make sure that he does not harm the prisoner," he said. "Just because Garfield is an altered human doesn't mean he will is immune to our client's strategies of harm. We want him in fit condition for the practical experiment tonight, so if it attracts your knowledge that he may try to harm the boy, point your gun and calm him."

You would've expected at least one word of response but the guard only offered a silent nod. With that out of the way, Colress turned his head to look into the living room and took one last look at the person in the blue armchair before opening and walking out the front door and back to the prison.

As soon as the door closed, Beast Boy noticed that the red armchair had shifted its position slightly; giving away the fact that someone was now sat in it. At the moment though, the hero couldn't tell if it was someone he knew for he couldn't see any body parts or clothing.

"Alright dude," he stared. "I wanna know who you are. I've met a lot of people in my life who have proved themselves as heartless monsters and I wanna know which one you are because no matter what you've got planned or who you've got working for you, the Teen Titans will find you _and_ stop you."

Beast Boy couldn't see, but his ears picked up the movements of the human to know that they had laid their arms onto the chair's arm rests.

"Your voice is different and yet..."

Beast Boy inhaled a breath and froze. _'No...'_

"...its arrogance is unchanged."

Beast Boy began to sweat uncontrollably in fear. _'No... it can't be _him. _Out of all of the possibilities, WHY did it have to be _**HIM**_?" _The arm chair turned around, revealing the hero's worst nightmare.

Beast Boy stared in horror at the man who was casually sitting in the arm chair. Honestly, the green Changeling had somewhat forgotten what the man looked like after so many years but now, his memory had been refreshed. The abnormal blue hair, the dark red suit with black horizontal lines running over it, the piercing yellow eyes, the orange shirt to go with the suit and the professional black loafers.

"You." the hero said simply whilst giving the man the darkest glare he could muster. The man returned Beast Boy's glare with an evil smirk.

"Hello Craig," the man said. "it's good to see you again."

It was him. Nicholas Galtry, the man who had tortured Beast Boy during his childhood for want of the gene within the hero that allowed him to turn into animals.

As soon as Beast Boy's emerald eyes met the psycho's yellow ones, he just wanted to turn into any type of animal with wings and to fly away from Alcatraz, with or without Raven. Sadly though, Beast Boy could tell that if his old guardian had gone out of his way to capture him and hold him at a worldwide famous prison, he meant business and he wanted something so he knew that escape was not an option... at the moment. Beast Boy sneered at the older man. "That's not my name." He stated_._

Galtry crossed his arms as a smug smile crossed his lips. "So Craig, my client Dr. Colress tells me that you have many questions that you want answered." Beast Boy couldn't help but cringe at his former guardian's words. That was one of the things he hated about Nicholas, he was one of the calm but psychotic people of earth. However, Beast Boy knew what it was like to be in a hostage or prisoner situation and so he also knew when it was the right time to get smug towards your captor.

And right now was not the time. So reluctantly, Beast Boy proceeded to try and have a normal conversation with the... _man_ sitting in front of him.

"I wanna know everything, Galtry. And I mean _everything_. I wanna know how you got your little hands on Alcatraz, I wanna know why you're working with Colress, I wanna know what you're up to and most importantly of all... I wanna know what the hell me and my friend Raven have to do with it." Galtry's eyes shifted to give the changeling a patronising stare.

"Are you sure Craig?" he asked mockingly to Beast Boy's dislike. "Because that is a lot of information and I don't think your brain will be able to take all of it." Beast Boy growled in anger at the insult (what was it with everyone insulting his intelligence?) and Galtry raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're serious?" he questioned to which his former ward simply nodded, wanting to move on.

"Honestly Craig, I would've thought your friend would've told you by now," he said. "You are aware that this 'Raven' has already met me and Colress, yes?" Beast Boy nodded, he had seen Raven upon her return from her own visit to his past tormentor. "Colress dragged me here as soon as he brought Raven back to the cell. I didn't have a chance to talk to her." Galtry nodded his head in understanding. "So you want to know my plan so you can speak to her about it when you return? Do what you want, Craig. Neither of you will be leaving any time soon." The villain smirked. "Must admit though, she is rather beautiful... for a teenager."

Suddenly, the animal instinct of protection welled up inside the hero and he sprang to his feet with a look that could kill on his face; he only calmed down enough to speak when the armed guard behind him raised their gun. "Don't you _dare _touch her, Galtry!" Beast Boy practically roared to which the older man feigned innocence. "What are you getting all angry about?" Galtry asked smugly, knowing that his lie was going to irritate the boy. "When she spoke to me in that very chair, she did call me 'evil' and said that I 'made murderers look like thieves' but she did say I looked very professional and smart. I think she respects me."

Beast Boy snarled. "She doesn't know what you are and I'd prefer it to stay that way so stay away from her." Finally, the man showed annoyance as a frown showed his feelings.

"You don't make the rules Craig, I do."

Beast Boy let a small yelp of pain escape him as his right arm was struck with a sting. His anger faded and shock/curiosity replaced it when he noticed that the armed guard had stood away from the wall for a moment to inject the Titan with something within a small syringe. The liquid inside was a darker shade of the colour that made up human and animal blood. Before Beast Boy could do anything about it, the guard pressed the top of the needle down and the liquid was pumped into the boy's blood stream; the needle was pulled from the boy's arm as soon as all of the liquid was inside his body.

"Alright then," Nicholas began as he stood up and the guard returned to its original position as if nothing had happened. "If I were you though, I'd try to get comfy; this is gonna take a while." Whilst the armed guard (that Colress had told to remain behind) watched Beast Boy, the blue haired villain walked into the kitchen of the house for a moment and returned with a hot cup of coffee. He set it down on the side table next to his red arm chair and whilst still standing, looked into the Changeling's eyes.

When Galtry began speaking to his former ward about everything he wanted to know, a black Raven flew through a wall of the small house and followed the stone staircase back up to the evil Dr. Colress' office of the prison. The bird did not remain there for long as it quickly flew through the two doors of the room as well, putting it in a prison hallway. It flew as fast it could down the hallways, turning left and right on some occasions, until it came to a certain cell of Alcatraz's cell block D. It flew inside and came to the sight of itself in human form, hovering over the cell's bed in a meditative position. As fast as lightning, The bird flew into the violet haired girl's face and her eyes opened, accounted with a gasp erupting from her lungs.

And then, the girl did something totally unlike her.

Raven fell down to the bed, face first, and cried.

The Titan had been following her friend and his captors since they had begun walking down the first hallway. He had seen the exact same things she had seen when the doctor and the guard had taken her around the prison. The unknown prisoners, the doctor's office, the view from the island and the small house that belonged to the big cheese. As tears came down her pale cheeks, she remembered why she was bawling in the first place, considering that she had only cried a few times in her whole life. The reason she had flown away from her spying session was because she now felt immensely... guilty.

The liquid the armed guard has injected into Beast Boy was... her blood.

She was half-demon; she didn't know what was going to happen to her friend now but due to him having her demonic blood in his body, there were going to be _huge _changes for him.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

When Beast Boy returned from Galtry's house later on, Raven was asleep on the bed within their shared cell. Not wanting to disturb her, he simply sighed and lied down on the floor of the room, hoping to get some shut eye. Little did he know that before he had returned to the cell, Raven had been praying for herself to be asleep when he returned; she didn't have the guts to look at him right now and what her blood was doing to him.

* * *

_5:00pm, July 16th – Titans Tower, Jump city_

All four members of the small group let out sighs of annoyance and exhaustion as they walked through the sliding doors leading to the common room of Titans Tower. The masked Boy Wonder that was Robin immediately walked over to the common room computer and began clicking on the keys to communicate with Titans East of Steel City. His girlfriend Starfire, who was also tired out, fell onto the couch with a frown on her face; she wanted to help her friends so much and all she could so at the moment was not blow things up in sorrow. The mechanical titan Cyborg looked at his two teammates with a tired but sad expression; he knew that they both felt extremely guilty for what had happened but the fact was that it _had _happened; all they could do now was try and save them. He looked to his right to see Jinx of the Hive Five, their temporary ally, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed; a look of anger still showed on her lips from what had happened earlier.

The group had been searching the entire city since 11:00am, so about six hours. They had searched high and low for them, even Jinx put in a valiant effort to try and find her enemies. After they had been searching for about three hours, at 2:00pm, all but Robin had been ready to give up and head back to the tower. It had taken a lot for the titans and the pink haired sorceress to eventually persuade Robin to come back to the tower and take a break, a lot being Cyborg's accusations of worrying too much and needing to calm down, Jinx's orders of going back to the tower to re-plan and Starfire's pleads to her boyfriend to head back to the tower for the boy wonder to rest. However, the hero leader still wanted to search just a little longer, so the group searched the city for three more hours, with no sign of the changeling and empath, before heading back to Titans tower.

"Robin man," Cyborg began as he walked towards his leader who was now on the common room computer. "You gotta take a break from this. We understand that this is hard for you; being the leader of the team, but stressing yourself over BB and Rae isn't gonna do them any good."

Said ninja did not respond to his mechanical friend, he simply stared at the small computer screen and continued to type as fast as he could, making more mistakes than actual words in his letter to Titans East about keeping a look out for their two teammates. "Robin." Cyborg said again, this time more forceful. "You _need _to take a break." No response. Just as the half-man was about to speak again, he felt a hand to one of his shoulders; he turned around to see Starfire.

"Cyborg, it may be better if I were to speak to Robin. Maybe you should show our new friend Jinx to her room." Hearing her name, the Titan's temporary ally stood up straight and uncrossed her arms, letting them hang by her sides. Cyborg took one last look at his stressed out leader before looking back at Starfire's pleading expression.

He sighed and with a frown, said "Alright then. Maybe you can get through to him." He turned away from the couple and began walking towards one of the room's doors. "Come on Jinx," he said to her as he walked past her being. "I'll show you to your guest room." A hesitant look overcame the witch's features. After a while, she shook her head and followed her old friend out of the room; leaving Robin and Starfire all alone.

The Tamaranian turned around to hold her vision on her boyfriend. She knew that Robin was going through great stress of losing two of his teammates to a robotic assassin so she didn't want to be too forceful on him or to say the wrong thing; she needed to be careful to move them around this fragile situation. Any wrong words could set Robin off for Starfire knew how much he cared about his teammates/friends. So, tentatively, she took a few steps forward so that she was right next to him at the computer. She calmly moved her hands over to his, planning on using her alien strength to hold his hands still and get his attention. Due to him not even pausing to wonder what his girlfriend was doing, Starfire began to worry more than before. She didn't move for a few seconds to see if Robin would react in some manner; he didn't. So doing it quickly to prevent him from moving, the princess of Tamaran moved her hands over top of Robin's gloved ones and clamped them firmly, prevent him from typing anymore.

Realising something was wrong, Robin's face finally lost its blank slate of an appearance as his head moved down and his eyes caught sight of Starfire's hands over his own. He looked towards his girlfriend and did something very rare and unlike him when he was with this girl, he glared. Satisfied that she had gained his attention, Starfire removed her hands from the Boy wonder's own and let her arms hang at her sides before speaking. "I believe I have obtained your attention."

Robin's glare did not loosen. "Starfire, what is so important?" he asked angrily but trying to keep his voice calm. "Can't you tell we're in a crisis right now? We need to find Beast Boy and Raven as soon as possible and I can't do that with you and Cyborg interrupting me!" He turned his attention back to the common room computer and was about to start working again before Starfire quickly hit the 'shut down' button and the computer's systems began to deactivate. Robin turned his head and glared at his teammate/girlfriend again, this one though being more of annoyance than anger. Knowing that she would simply turn the computer off again if he turned it back on, Robin walked over to the common room couch and plopped down, ready for the verbal fight about his actions he was about to get into. Starfire sat down next to her boyfriend before beginning her lecture that would hopefully; snap him out of his current obsession.

"Robin, I do understand that you are not happy with what has happened but _you_ must understand that you are not the only one who is hurting. Me and Cyborg are also in great pain over the capture of our friends and the fact that we are not aware of their location but you are not the centre of this situation, you cannot go shutting us out and leaving yourself in the dark." The Tamaranian awaited a response, anything type of movement to show that he had been listening; Starfire's wish was granted when Robin sighed glumly and lowered his head in a state of shame.

"I'm sorry Starfire," he began, looking down at his gloved hands that lay in his lap. "I know that I've been drifting from you and Cyborg since this morning. It's just that..." he paused and bit down on his lip; it seemed that he was thinking of the right way of how to explain himself. Seconds later, he resumed. "I'm the leader of this team, Star and now that Beast Boy and Raven have been kidnapped by that machine, I can't help but feel like this is my fault." He looked up to see the Tamaranian had an eyebrow raised in question (something very unlike her, actually).

"I wasn't there to fight that machine Starfire, you know that because you were there!" he explained. "I couldn't do _anything _to try and save Beast Boy from that robot and even though you and Raven went after it... it wasn't enough!" By now, Starfire could actually see a very small quantity of tears creeping down the boy wonder's face. "I should've been able to do something Star... at least _something_." The female's eyes shrunk a little in size and sadness filled them as the realisation hit her.

"I understand now. You believe that if you had contributed, you would've been the determinant factor of the battle; you think that with your help, our friends would still be here."

The alien girl gave the boy a pitiful smile and slipped one of her arms around his shoulders in a comforting manner. "Robin, please, you must understand that none of this is your fault. You did nothing to aid in the robot's capture of friends Beast Boy and Raven so none of this can be your fault."

The masked human sighed again, despite his girlfriend's best attempts to improve his mood. "That's exactly the point though, Starfire." he resumed sadly. "Because I wasn't able to help, I want to try and find them as soon as possible. They shouldn't be out there beyond this city, in the control of some mad man. They should be here with their friends in a place where they can feel safe. They should be home." Robin's expression suddenly seemed to increase in sadness (if that was even possible). "Besides, I feel like I am... _in debt_... to Beast Boy."

_This _caught the Tamaranian girl off guard. "In debt? What do you mean by that?" Upon receiving this question, the Boy wonder stood up from his girlfriend's shoulder cuddle and began pacing the space of front of her. Seconds later, he mumbled something but it was too quiet for her to hear. "I'm sorry Robin, I didn't quite hear that," she said politely. "Can you please repeat what you just said?" He was hesitant for a moment but after regaining his confidence, he looked into Starfire's emerald eyes and repeated himself.

"He never forgave me."

Starfire's next expression showed confusion. "Forgave you, Robin?" she questioned; the Titan leader timidly nodded his head. "Yes Star, he never forgave me." Before beginning to explain himself, Robin returned to his spot on the coach so that his alien mate could slip her arm around his shoulders in comfort again. "Remember when Beast Boy was having that 'phase' and we all thought he had attacked Raven after Adonis broke in?" she nodded. "Do you also remember the way I threatened him when I was questioning him about what he could remember from the incident?" Starfire nodded again, this time slower; she had an idea of where Robin was going with this.

"Even after we fixed everything, locked Adonis up, cured Beast Boy and set the record straight, I could tell he hadn't fully forgiven me." He paused and took a deep breath as if he was on the brink of tears and Starfire gave him a reassuring gentle squeeze. He wiped the bottom of his mask to rid his face of any small tears before continuing. "He forgave you and Cyborg immediately as if you two had done nothing wrong, he and Raven had a little moment alone outside the Tower on the night so I'm pretty sure they had sorted things out but with me..." he paused again. "I could tell that he didn't forgive me in the way he forgave you and Cyborg. He remembered the way I interrogated him, threatened him like a criminal and for that, he believed that I didn't deserve his forgiveness... and I don't blame him."

Starfire did not respond for minutes, leaving the couple in a depressed silence as Robin hung his head and the alien simply continued to comfort him with shoulder squeezes. Eventually, she broke the quiet atmosphere surrounding them. "So... you believe that you are in debt to our friend because of the things you said to him when you accused him of hurting friend Raven when he was only protecting her?" The Boy wonder nodded. "I believe that if I work really quickly and hard, then I can save him and Raven from whatever enemy they are facing before they get too badly hurt and maybe, if I do... he'll finally forgive me and we'll be able to be friends again instead of just... colleagues."

The girl gave him a small smile as she turned his head to look at her. "Robin, I believe you do not need to worry about our friends. Yes, Beast Boy may have been captured by an enemy that we do not fully understand but if Raven too has been apprehended by this villain, they will be able to look out for each other. As we are the only girls in the tower, me and friend Raven have become as close as sisters and through our times together, I have discovered that she cares deeply for all of us and it is because of this that she will do everything in her power to protect Beast Boy from his enemy." Robin mirrored his girlfriend's small smile and intertwined their fingers. "Ok Star, I'll stop worrying." The Tamaranian gave him a full grin. "Glorious. Now what was it you were doing before?"

Meanwhile, the half-man half-machine Titan Cyborg was leading Jinx to one of the guest rooms of the tower that she would be staying in. Obviously, the situation was awkward for the two teens and so, neither spoke; the pink haired girl simply followed the Titan like a dog would follow its owner. From their eyes (... or Cyborg's _eye_), you could easily tell that Jinx just wanted to get to her room without question and Cyborg wanted the exact opposite; he had so many questions that he wanted his old friend to answer.

After a few more seconds of silence apart from heavy and light footsteps, the duo reached a grey sliding door that read 'Guest' upon it. Cyborg began typing commands on the little computer of his arm and after a moment, the door whooshed open; the hero entered and allowed the villainess to enter.

"Ok so, this is your room and will be for the remainder of your time with us," Cyborg began after Jinx sat down on her plain white guest bed. "If you need any help with anything, my room is just down the hall with a left turn from this one, Robin's room is on the floor above and Starfire's is on that floor as well." The witch did not respond with words but merely nodded her head; the half-man could tell she just wanted her to leave in her sorrow. However, this was Cyborg and he wasn't the type of person to leave someone alone in sadness (let alone _Jinx_).

He took a few steps closer to the girl so he was standing in front of her form that was sat down on the guest bed. He got down onto one knee, ready to comfort her like a father would their son or daughter. "Look Jinx, I can tell just from looking at you that I am the last person you wanna hear from right now and I respect that, I have done some pretty horrible things to you in the past two years but all I'm asking right now is that you tell me how sad you are." He barely caught the sorceress raise an eyebrow in question from her bowed head. "It's good to tell people or at least someone about your troubles. If you tell me or Star then... maybe you won't feel as bad." He paused and before continuing, he placed a metal hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Jinx, I know how bad you want to catch the guy who sent that robot because of what it did to Mammoth," Even through his unfeeling metal hand, Cyborg felt her tense. "But if you just sit here moping about it and don't actually let that sorrow out of your system, you're gonna be too emotionally hurt to help us catch this guy; you won't be able to concentrate or worse... you may let your anger get the better of you." The girl did not respond at all, she kept her head bowed and remained silent. Cyborg sighed, believing his attempts to be fruitless before removing his hand from her shoulder and standing up. He began walking to the door, ready to leave her in a depressing silence when...

"He was family."

The hero stopped in mid-step. He turned around to see that Jinx had slightly raised her head for him to hear her and to see her face; her lips were curved into a frown and tears were slowly falling from her cat eyes, no doubt from all the grief and sorrow she had kept up inside her since the 'incident'.

"What did you say?" Cyborg asked. He hadn't actually misheard her; he just wanted to hear her say it again so he knew what he heard was what she had actually said. "He was family to me." Jinx said, confirming the half-machine's wonders. Plans of leaving currently forgotten, Cyborg walked back over to the pink haired girl and this time, took a seat next to her on the bed. "What do you mean by that?" The girl took a deep breath.

"Mammoth of the Hive Five was like the brother I never had. All the others fit different roles, See-More was like that annoying stalker from school, Gizmo was a toddler who I had constantly look out for, Kyd Wykkyd was that shy boy from school who could surprise people and Billy was your hassling, rare red neck neighbour... Mammoth was the only who really felt like... _family _to me. I know that I shouldn't have had feelings like that for him, we were merely criminals working together to get what we wanted but... I couldn't help it."

"After I released them all from their frozen prison and we all went back to our base, we practically acted like nothing had actually happened. None of them went on about me being a traitor by joining... _Flash_... because I had been the one to set them free; not even _Gizmo _was ranting about it. They treated me more as a leader than as a fellow criminal because they knew from the final battle that I wasn't afraid to hex them again. I literally had almost _no _communication with them apart from overhearing them speaking to each other or them responding to my commands."

"Then, one day, Mammoth came to my room. Like I said, I saw him as a member of my family, like a brother so I found it quite hard to just send him away. I let him in and we just... talked to each other like a couple of ordinary teenagers as if we weren't a team of a couple of Jump City's most feared criminals who attacked civilians weekly. At one point, after we had finished talking about our next plan, we asked me a question that really left me... shocked. Do you wanna know what he asked, Stone?" Ignoring the surname for now, Cyborg nodded slightly.

"He asked me, 'Why did you come back here? Why did you ruin your chances of a better life?"

"I remembered myself looking at him like a goldfish as if he had had his mind stolen. In quite a rude and stuck-up tone, I had asked him what he meant... I wasn't prepared for the speech he gave me that he really and I mean _really_ put his heart into. He spoke about how he was the same as me; about how he didn't see the others as anything more than teammates or fellow criminals but with me, he saw the little sister he had always wanted. He said that he wanted the best for me and that secretly, when he saw me with Flash... he was happy because from being a heroine I would get a better life."

"He said he loved me like a sister... and I said I loved him like a brother..." Jinx's hands tightly clenched into fists and her eyes squeezed shut, stopping the tears. "And then that... that _robot _came along, looking for Beast Boy and it... it took Mammoth away! The only person who actually felt like he was my... family." Going into comforting mode once again, Cyborg proceeded to (albeit, hesitantly) wrap his metallic arms around the witch's fragile form; he was even more shocked when through all those layers, he slightly felt Jinx lay her head onto his chest in the embrace.

"Jinx, as much as it may not look it... I truly _am _sorry for your loss. To have that connection with Mammoth... and then to lose him to something he had literally only just seen... I can't imagine that feeling." The girl did not show any signs that she was listening, so Cyborg simply continued to speak to her as he held her form that was threatening to spill tears from its eyes. "I know what it feels like... to lose someone as close to you as family. One day when I was a little bit younger, I went to visit my parents who both worked at S.T.A.R Labs. There was an... 'incident' and this creature from another realm crossed over to our world through a portal and it... killed my mom, right in front of me before it attacked me and my dad was forced to give me all _this _to save my life." He sighed and unwrapped his arms from Jinx, who was now paying attention to what the hero was saying. "And yet, after all that... I was more saddened by the thought of my mom being gone than by the thought of me losing half my humanity."

On one of the bits of human flesh he had left on his arm, Cyborg felt a gentle touch and he looked down to see... the grey right hand of Jinx, giving his arm a comforting squeeze. He looked the villainess in the eye to see... comfort and understanding. Believing that his objective had been achieved, the metal teen stood up from the bed and turned around to the girl. "I'd like you to have a bit of a rest, ok? You've been through a lot today and we never know when something about BB and Raven may pop up." she nodded; this action caused Cyborg to smile and he turned around to exit the room.

"Stone."

Almost through the door, Cyborg stopped. "Yeah?" he asked. When he didn't receive a reply, he turned around to see Jinx looking at him with a small smile and thankfulness in those cat eyes of hers.

"Thanks." He reflected the smile and after giving her a nod, left Jinx in the silence of her room. The girl decided to take the half-machine up on his advice and lied down on the guest bed, her head fitting the pillow perfectly. As her eyes slowly closed, a knock came to the door and she heard the sound of it whooshing open. She opened her eyes and raised her head to see the titan she had just been talking with.

"Jinx," he began. "After this is all over... do you want me to go over to Keystone City and... beat the crud out of Kid Flash?"

Jinx smirked. "If you think you can."

Cyborg smiled at her before he closed the door once more and walked away, leaving the sorceress to her dreams.

When he returned to the common room, Cyborg was happy to discover that Robin actually taking a break and sitting on the couch with his girlfriend next to him. "Hey Rob," he said. "Glad to see Star broke you out of your working trance." Robin scoffed. "Don't you start again." he replied playfully.

"Robin has contacted the Titans East of Steel City." Starfire announced. "They have heard our situation regarding friends Beast Boy and Raven and said that they are happy to come and protect the city when we and our new ally are ready to leave." The Boy wonder raised an eyebrow in the metal teen's direction. "Oh yeah, how did it go with Jinx?" he asked with a slight smirk, knowing of the duo's previous mutual feelings for each other. "Not too awkward, I hope."

Cyborg seemed to blush, despite the fact he had barely any blood left in his body. "Uh, no; it wasn't too bad," he replied whilst he scratched the back of his head. "We were quiet to start with but when we reached the guest room, everything began to fall into place. Basically Rob, thanks to me, I don't think we have to worry about her going on too _many _anger rants." The Titan leader smirked at his friend.

_Ding-Dong!_

All three Titans raised their heads to look at the computer screen upon hearing the door bell. Then, Cyborg's eyebrow furrowed. "Wait a minute, how could anyone ring our doorbell?" he questioned to which his two friends looked at him. "As far as I know, all Titans are currently at their respective locations and there are also, as far as I know, _not _any public transport services leading to this island!" Robin stood up from the couch and walked towards the computer of the common room. He pressed a few keys and seconds later, the heroes could see through the CCTV camera of the front door.

"Oh my god..." Robin said with his mouth agape, his two teammates copying his facial expression.

Through the CCTV of their front door, they could see a girl. This girl was dressed in the school uniform of the Jump City high school, consisting of a white polo shirt with black tie, a light blue skirt with white socks and black shoes. The girl herself had shining blue eyes (that were currently producing tears) and straight, long blonde hair. Through the camera, the Titans were held host...

...to the sight of Terra.

* * *

_(A/N – There you go, chapter 2! I hope that was a suitable length for you guys, considering the month long wait. Trust me, I will try (and I mean TRY) to give you guys quicker updates in the future. BTW, if you have actually _been _to Alcatraz in the USA and believe I have gotten some details wrong, please let me know for future chapters! Thanks!_

_And yes, Terra is present in this story! Don't worry BBRae fans, she won't be going anywhere near Beast Boy in a romantic sense. In fact, Terra is actually the first half of the _mystery ship _of this story, the second half will be revealed in (as far as I have it planned) chapter 6. Finally, here is your next chapter preview._

_Chapter 3: Let your wings loose preview_

"_**Craig," **__Galtry called down from the lab's control room with Colress and Raven behind him. __**"You are about to participate in a practical experimentation. The outcome of this experiment will determine the fate of you and your little purple haired friend up here." **__Beast Boy scowled towards his former guardian; the man smirked in response._

"_**You are going to be fighting an invention of mine and Dr. William Colress. It is known and coded as 'The WN7-Peacekeeper'. Within the next few seconds, you and our machine will be within that experimentation lab."**_

"_**Only one of you will leave."**_

_Don't forget to review! Please! Come on, I think I deserve it after all that!)_


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